Saturday, February 18, 2006

The Australian Olympic Committee has demanded that Brazil’s Olympic bobsled team be banned from Torino due to a positive steroid test found in one of the bobsledders.Brazil won a tournament last year where the top two finishers automatically qualified for this year’s Olympics; Australia finished third.

Friday, February 17, 2006

In the latest round of the diplomatic war between Venezuela and the U.S., Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Mari Pili Hernandez demanded that the U.S. stay out of Venezuelan affairs. Hernandez’s words came in the aftermath of Condoleezza Rice’s recent remarks that Venezuela is “attempting to influence neighbors away from democratic processes” and is a “sidekick” of Iran. In another verbal battle between the two states, Venezuela’s Vice President accused the U.S. of running a “smear campaign” to block Venezuela from having a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

In what is viewed as a “major concession,” State Department officials hinted that coca farming may be allowed as part of a revaluation of U.S. counternarcotics policy in Bolivia. Meanwhile, Evo Morales refused to give in to demands by domestic coca growers to expel U.S. representatives from Chapere, a main coca growing area of Bolivia.

Washington Post's Marcela Sanchez discusses the World Bank's announcement that Latin America needs to cut poverty in order to stimulate growth, a departure from the strict adherence to market reforms the Bank has advocated in the past. (WAPO)

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Rene Preval was declared the winner of Haiti's presidential election Thursday under an agreement between the interim government and electoral council, staving off a crisis over last week's disputed vote in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. (WAPO) Newsweek also discusses the victory. (Newsweek)

Five men and five women that belonged to Guatemala’s Mara 18 gang were found shot and killed as part of a vigilante killing spree. Notes left on the bodies of the dead said “some people fell into their clutches and paid the money they demanded, others weren't so stupid and opted to eradicate them. God forever.” (Reuters)

Mexico’s government will back the right of the International Criminal Court to prosecute U.S. troops even though the U.S. has threatened to withhold nearly $1 million in aid to Mexico. "This country will be irrefutable in supporting the protocols of the international court, whatever the cost," said a spokesman for Mexican president Vicente Fox. (El Universal)

Bolivia’s coca farmers should not grow more than their personal share, said president Evo Morales in a speech on Saturday. Morales also criticized the heavy reduction of U.S. military aid to Boliviaby declaring that "the lives of Bolivians are not worth a million dollars." (CNN)

Meanwhile, there have been calls from Brazil and Haiti’s interim government for Preval to be recognized as Haiti’s next president.With over 90% of votes counted, Preval holds a 37.1% lead over his closest rival, but is 1.3% short of avoiding a runoff.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

-Contributed by Erwin Cifuentes. The Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum in Santiago, Chile is set to open next month in the same mansion used as a spy center under Pinochet's rule. Workers that remodeled the former spy center found objects such as passports and diagrams of locations under surveillance. (The Australian)

-Contributed by presidential election, with a quiet uncommon in Central America, according to the Houston Chronicle. The waiting game affects citizens and politicians alike, including Congress's debate on Costa Rica's involvement with the Central America Free Trade Agreement. (Merco Press)

-Contributed by (CTV) On the cusp of what appears to be Preval's victory, the Miami Herald shows the obstacles that lay ahead for Haiti's next president as well as Preval's problems during his previous administration. (Miami)